(Source: Independent.co.uk)
The number of drones flying in British airspace has soared in recent years with police forces, defence contractors and media firms among those authorised to operate them.
Earlier this year, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans for Amazon Prime Air, which could see the internet giant use drones to deliver small packages.
“Within the next 10 to 15 years, drones could replace cranes on construction sites and monitor traffic jams on public highways, which means new risks for aviation underwriters,” said Thomas Kriesmann, a senior underwriter at AGCS.
“We see the potential for multimillion-pound claims. We get the impression that the majority of manufacturers are not covered in the way we think they should be and we see complex liability scenarios that could involve manufacturers and service providers.”
Last week, the Civil Aviation Authority said it had recorded seven incidents between May 2014 and March 2015 at airports around the UK in which drones almost collided with planes. The CAA has launched a “dronecode” to alert users to the danger of collisions and accidents. Last week a drone flew within 100 metres of a Lufthansa flight approaching Warsaw airport.
Kieran Walshe, a partner at the law firm DWF, said: “Drones are becoming one of the biggest risks for insurers, but also one of the most significant product development areas due to the rapidly expanding usage by companies, as well as the public. The laws and liabilities involved range from aviation to privacy issues, but also trespass, harassment and data protection, with many drones carrying digital cameras. Criminal prosecutions can and will increase.
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Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com